The Solway Firth ( gd, Tràchd Romhra) is a
firth
Firth is a word in the English and Scots languages used to denote various coastal waters in the United Kingdom, predominantly within Scotland. In the Northern Isles, it more usually refers to a smaller inlet. It is linguistically cognate to ''f ...
that forms part of the
border between England and Scotland, between
Cumbria
Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. ...
(including the
Solway Plain) and
Dumfries and Galloway. It stretches from
St Bees Head, just south of
Whitehaven in Cumbria, to the
Mull of Galloway, on the western end of
Dumfries and
Galloway. The
Isle of Man
)
, anthem = " O Land of Our Birth"
, image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg
, image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg
, mapsize =
, map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe
, map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green)
in Europ ...
is also very near to the firth. The firth comprises part of the
Irish Sea
The Irish Sea or , gv, Y Keayn Yernagh, sco, Erse Sie, gd, Muir Èireann , Ulster-Scots: ''Airish Sea'', cy, Môr Iwerddon . is an extensive body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the C ...
.
The firth’s
coast
The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in n ...
line is characterised by lowland hills and small mountains. It is a mainly rural area, with mostly small villages and settlements (such as
Powfoot). Fishing,
hill farming, and some arable farming play a large part in the local economy, although tourism is increasing.
The northern part of the English coast of the Solway Firth was designated as an
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, known as the
Solway Coast, in 1964. Construction of the
Robin Rigg Wind Farm in the firth began in 2007.
Within the firth, there are some salt flats and
mud flats that can be dangerous, due to their frequently shifting patches of
quicksand.
Wildlife
There are over of
Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) in the area of the firth (one of which is
Salta Moss), as well as
national nature reserves — at
Caerlaverock
Caerlaverock (; gd, Cille Bhlàthain) is a civil parish in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.
The parish was historically in Dumfriesshire. The area includes:
* Caerlaverock Castle, a 13th-century castle, located south of Dumfries, Scotland
* ...
and in
Cumbria
Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. ...
. On the Cumbrian side, much of the coastline has been designated an
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The
Solway Coast’s AONB has two separate sections: the first runs westward from just north of
Carlisle to
Skinburness; the second runs south from the hamlet of
Beckfoot, past
Mawbray and
Allonby, to
Crosscanonby.
In 2013, the
honeycomb worm
''Sabellaria alveolata'', (also known as the honeycomb worm), is a reef-forming polychaete. It is distributed around the Mediterranean Sea, and from the north Atlantic Ocean to south Morocco. It is also found in the British Isles at its norther ...
and
blue mussel were designated as targets of conservation efforts, and
Allonby Bay (an inlet of the Solway Firth) was put forward as a candidate for a
Marine Conservation Zone.
Long-distance walking route
A long-distance walking route, the
Annandale Way
The Annandale Way is a hiking trail in Scotland, which is officially designated by NatureScot as one of Scotland's Great Trails. It follows the valley of the River Annan from its source in the Moffat Hills to the sea in the Solway Firth south ...
, runs through Annandale, from the source of the
River Annan, in the
Moffat Hills
The Moffat Hills are a range of hills in the Southern Uplands of Scotland. They form a roughly triangular shape with a west facing side, a north facing side, and a south-east facing side. It is 17 kilometres from east to west across this triangle ...
, to the Solway Firth; it was opened in September 2009.
Islands in the Solway
Unlike other parts of the west coast of Scotland, the Solway Firth has only a few islands. They are:
*
Hestan Island
Hestan Island is a small coastal island at the southern foot of the River Urr estuary in the Solway Firth, in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland. This small island measures approximately and at its highest elevation sits a ...
*
Rough Island
*
Little Ross
* The so-called
Isle of Whithorn
Isle of Whithorn (''Port Rosnait'' in Gaelic) is one of the most southerly villages and seaports in Scotland, lying on the coast north east of Burrow Head, about three miles from Whithorn and about thirteen miles south of Wigtown in Dumfries and ...
(which is actually a peninsula).
*The
Islands of Fleet
The Islands of Fleet are a group of small islands in Galloway, Scotland. They are in Fleet Bay, which is part of Wigtown Bay, and is in turn part of the Solway Firth in the Irish Sea. There are three main islands.
* Murray Isles, owned by th ...
Rivers
The Solway Firth is the
estuary
An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...
of the
River Eden and the
River Esk.
Below are links to lists of the other rivers that flow into the firth:
*
in England
*
in Scotland
History
The name 'Solway' (recorded as ''Sulewad'' in 1218) is of Scandinavian origin,
and was originally the name of a ford across the mud flats at
Eskmouth.
The first element of the name is probably from the Old Norse word 'pillar', referring to the
Lochmaben Stane, though it may instead be from , meaning '
solan goose'.
and both have long vowels, but the early spellings of Solway indicate a short vowel in the first element.
This may be due to the
shortening of an originally long vowel in the
Middle English
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old Englis ...
period but may also represent an original short vowel.
If this is the case, the first element may be , an unrecorded word cognate with
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...
'muddy, pool', or a derivative of , meaning 'to swill'.
The second element of the name is from the
Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...
, meaning 'ford'
(which is
cognate with the modern English word ''wade'').
The area had three fords: the Annan or Bowness Wath, the Dornock Wath (once called the Sandywathe), and the main one —the Solewath (also called the Solewath or the Sulewad).
A wooden lighthouse was built in 1841 at Barnkirk Point (). It was destroyed by fire in 1960.
On 9 March 1876, a 79-ton French Lugger, the ''St. Pierre'', was stranded - and finally declared lost - on Blackshaw Bank, an ill-defined feature which extends for a considerable distance on both sides of the channel of the River Nith.
Between 1869 and 1921, the estuary was crossed by the
Solway Junction Railway on a 1780 m (5850 ft) iron
viaduct. The line was built to carry iron ore from the
Whitehaven area to
Lanarkshire and was financed and operated by the
Caledonian Railway of Scotland. After the railway, which was not a financial success, ceased operating in 1921, the railway bridge became a popular footpath, enabling residents of Scotland to easily cross into England, where
alcoholic drink
An alcoholic beverage (also called an alcoholic drink, adult beverage, or a drink) is a drink that contains ethanol, a type of alcohol that acts as a drug and is produced by fermentation of grains, fruits, or other sources of sugar. The c ...
was legally available seven days a week. (Scotland was
dry on
Sundays at the time.) The viaduct was demolished between 1931 and 1933.
Hazards
The
Ministry of Defence had by 1999 fired more than 6,350
depleted uranium rounds into the Solway Firth from its testing range at
Dundrennan Range
Dundrennan Range is a weapons testing range on the Solway Firth, near Kirkcudbright in Dumfries and Galloway, in south west Scotland, it is part of the Ministry of Defence's Kirkcudbright Training Area.
History
Previously farming land, the sit ...
.
In popular culture
* The Solway Firth has been used as the location for films. For example, the 1973 film ''
The Wicker Man'' was filmed around
Kirkcudbright and
Burrow Head on the Wigtownshire coast.
* In July 2019, the American metal band
Slipknot released a song called “
Solway Firth” that is named after the firth.
See also
*
Anglo-Scottish border
*
Solway Plain
*
Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust
*
Solway Firth Spaceman
The Solway Firth Spaceman (also known as the Solway Spaceman or the Cumberland Spaceman) is a figure seen in a photograph taken on 23 May 1964 by fireman, photographer and local historian Jim Templeton (13 February 1920 – 27 November 2011).
...
References
Slipknot 2019 song. "Solway Firth" from the Album "We Are Not Your Kind"
Further reading
* (available at )
* Ordnance Survey, (2003), ''Carlisle & Solway Firth'', Landranger Map, No. 85, Ed. D, Scale 1:50 000 (1¼ inches to 1 mile),
* Ordnance Survey, (2006), ''Solway Firth'', Explorer Map, No. 314, Ed. A2, Scale 1:25 000 (2½ inches to 1 mile),
External links
Solway Shore StoriesThe Powfoot Spa
{{Authority control
Landforms of Dumfries and Galloway
Landforms of Cumbria
Firths of Scotland
Estuaries of England
Estuaries of Scotland
Bodies of water of the Irish Sea
Special Areas of Conservation in England
Special Areas of Conservation in Scotland
Anglo-Scottish border
Protected areas of Cumbria
Protected areas of Dumfries and Galloway
Natural regions of England